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African Week in Review Feb 11-17

Only one place to start this week in review, and that is in Libreville where Zambia defeated Cote d’Ivoire on kicks from the spot at the end of extra time. I remember reading about the Zambian air tragedy when their entire soccer team went down in the Atlantic after taking off from Libreville, and was it was interesting that Soccernet.com picked up on this before the tournament and interviewed Emmanuel Mayuka who became Zamibia’s talisman during the tournament. It is terrible that the tournament was not shown on American television, as the story lines in the tournament would have made for a great example of an African redemption story.

Sport

So, I found myself rooting for Zambia on Sunday, despite telling anyone that would ask (and some that didn’t) that this was Cote d’Ivoire’s year to win the Africa Cup of Nations. In the end, the braver team won (but perhaps it was preordained?). If you looked into the eyes of the Ivorian penalty takers, they were scared to miss more than the Zambians. Now, Drogba’s missed penalty in normal time certainly didn’t help the confidence, but in the biggest game on the African continent, you have to be ready to psych yourself up to take a kick from the spot. Anyone could see that Gervinho kept looking to the ground, and made no eye contact with anyone during the kicks. Some might say that when it comes to the 9th taker, you can’t blame the guy because he was forthright in saying he didn’t want to take a kick. But when you’re a star player on the 15th ranked team in the world, you need to be ready to step up in the crucial moment for your country….

President Zuma’s plan for infrastructure development is said to be modeled on the fast-track efforts that were put in place for the World Cup. At least there’s some urgency in the government’s efforts now. I almost wish the government had been more aggressive in building World Cup infrastructure even if it had not been completed in time, at least they’d be coming online for the locals to use (whose use is going to determine is success, obviously)

Cool tech out of South Africa in the form of a digital drum computer originally made of the Uganda market. Billed as a robust computer system thats aimed at improving literacy, it made Time’s and UNICEF’s list of top tech. The best part of it is that it is made from locally sourced materials. That has to be the future of the African tech market as that will fuel employment opportunities and give African ICT firms a product to export.

How awesome would this be? Telcoms setting up their own internet cafes, not to profit from users, but to showcase their tech and their services. Could make the internet cafe experience that much better for travelers.

About Alex Laverty

Recent graduate from USC's Master of Public Diplomacy and UCLA's Master of Africa Studies programs. My interests lie in understanding the interactions between digital ICTs & society. I try to make sense how are these interactions are changing democracy, diplomacy, and development.